1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an automatic door opening/closing apparatus to automatically open or close a drawer type door, and a refrigerator having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, home electronics, such as, e.g., refrigerators, have doors to open or close the interior of a body.
The doors are classified into rotary type doors and drawer type doors. Especially, a drawer type door is integrally provided with a storage basket, so that the storage basket moves forward out of a body as the door is opened, allowing a user to easily remove items received in the storage basket.
If the above-described drawer type door and storage basket have a large size, the user may need to exert considerable force to open or close the door.
In particular, if a handle of the drawer type door is located higher or lower than the user's shoulder, the user may have difficulty opening or closing the drawer type door.
For this reason, various door opening apparatuses have been proposed, which achieve a balance between the exterior pressure and the interior pressure of a body upon initial opening of the drawer type door, thereby assisting smooth opening of the door.
However, the above-described door opening apparatuses merely function to alleviate an initial opening force. If heavy items are placed in the storage basket, it may take considerable force to open the door with the storage basket despite the use of the door opening apparatus.